Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP has agreed to buy a 30 percent stake in Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa from an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund in a $3.6 billion deal including debt, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the transaction.
The sale gives the business a total enterprise value of $12 billion, roughly the same price tag that Cepsa’s owner Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company sought ahead of a failed attempt at a stock market listing last year, the FT said.
Carlyle will have at least two board seats, and Musabbeh Al Kaabi, a senior executive at Mubadala, will remain as chairman, the newspaper said, citing sources.
As part of the agreement, Carlyle reserves the right to buy up to 40 percent of Cepsa, which is one of the largest privately-owned oil companies in Europe and has been under Mubadala ownership for the last three decades, the FT said.
Carlyle, Cepsa and Mubadala could not be immediately reached for a comment.
By Rama Venkat
Source: Reuters
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
